A. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to vehicles for transporting materials, and in particular, to vehicles especially suited for retrieving, transporting, and positioning stacks of relatively uniformly shaped trays or pallets, in particular, bread and other baked goods trays.
B. Problems In The Art
The production of baked goods is quite labor intensive. This includes the handling and storage of the baked goods at the baking facility, and the subsequent handling required to deliver the baked goods to end users. The distribution of bakery goods, including but not limited to bread loaves, buns, cakes, and donuts, is many times accomplished by shipping the items by semi-trailer trucks. Currently, this is done efficiently by placing the baked goods in relatively uniformly sized and shaped trays, such as are known in the art. The trays hold a plurality of baked items and are configured so that they can be matingly stacked upon one another without detrimentally affecting the baked goods.
The trays are various sizes but many are roughly on the order of approximately 27 inches by 22 inches in width and length, and from 31/2 to 7 inches high at the corners (the highest points). A part of the tray, at the corners, extends below the platform which supports the baked goods.
The trays are usually stacked upon one another for efficient utilization of space at the bakery, in transit (in a semi-trailer for example), and then at the destination until the baked goods are moved to a store shelf or otherwise taken off the trays. The height of the stacks of trays is generally limited by practical considerations including the height of the room or building, the height of the semi-trailer, or the height that a human can lift a tray. Another consideration is the ability to move the stack or stacks, which, when loaded with baked goods, can each weigh several hundred pounds.
The handling of stacks of trays currently involves substantial manual labor. For example, hand-held manual carts, pallet jacks, or hand-dollies are used to engage and move a stack of trays. In all of these situations, the worker must exert substantial manual effort, including lifting, pulling, and maneuvering of the stacks, which can be unwieldy. Such manual labor not only involves substantial time and resources, but also involves the risk of injuries such as to the worker's back. Such risks extend beyond the worker to the employer in the form of risk of losing the availability of workers as well as the risk of workman's compensation claims, all of which translate into costs to the bakery, as well as to those that buy the products.
As can therefore be appreciated, the current state of the art in the bakery industry is for workers to handle loaded and unloaded baked goods trays by stacking them (involving much manual labor), but then manually manipulating the stacks to storage locations, into transportation vehicles, or otherwise. This simply takes a lot of time and effort, especially where substantial numbers of baked goods are being handled. The nature of baked goods is generally such that they must be distributed to the end user as soon as possible. The amount of lifting, pushing and pulling involved with these procedures presents a very real workplace concern regarding not only worker time and effort, but also worker injury, and resulting loss of the worker and worker compensation matters.
The requirement of significant amounts of manual labor effort and time can therefore be easily understood if trays are manually handled, for example when loading tens upon tens of trays into a semi-trailer for distribution to remote sites. Such expenditure of human resources can be a very costly endeavor for a company. The workers are limited, of course, as to how many trays can be handled at one time, in terms of the height and the ability to keep the stack intact.
Therefore, there is room for improvement as to the handling of baked goods trays. If a substantial savings in labor time and reduced injuries (such as back injuries) could be realized, it would be very beneficial with respect to the handling and distribution of baked goods. Obviously, bread and other baked goods are some of our staple food products. Large bakeries make and ship thousands of items per day. The items usually need to be distributed and consumed by the end user in a relatively short time period. Because bread, for example, is relatively low-priced, every efficiency and economy advance that can be achieved is advantageous.
One possible improvement might be the utilization of motorized vehicles to reduce labor time and risk of injury. There is currently no known vehicle that is suited for the task. To point out the lack of any viable solution, a short discussion follows regarding motorized vehicles known in other fields and why they would not effectively work for handling of baked goods trays.
Consider conventional lift trucks, such as are known in the art. An example is the Model E3 from Schaeff Incorporated. The narrow and spaced apart forks might be able to be moved underneath a stack of trays. However, the forks of such trucks are generally configured to handle pallets, which are wider than the trays. Also, although the mast of a lift truck can many times be vertically extended, the vertical support that moves with the forks is generally not too tall. Some lift trucks, like the Model E3, though, allow the forks and vertical support to be tilted forward and back. This can assist in stabilizing a load when moving. It should be understood that although lift trucks offer some advantages, they are an inefficient use because they are configured to allow relatively high lifting, which is not needed for baked goods tray stack moving. Therefore, a lift truck has many expensive features that would be under-utilized or not utilized. Furthermore, lift trucks are generally configured so that the operator is facing towards the lift in terms of layout of controls and the position of the operator. If moving stacks of baked goods trays, it would be very difficult for the operator to see through or around the trays. If the operator is forced to run the lift truck backwards, the operator must awkwardly turn around and this presents the risk of injury.
As can be understood in the art, lift trucks are generally designed to handle substantial loads of at least several thousand pounds. Additionally, they include components which can lift substantial loads to substantial heights. Therefore the structure of these machines is relatively complex and costly to manufacture. Additionally, maintenance on elevating parts, such as bearings, hydraulics, and hoses comes into play.
Consider next what are known in the art as walkies. Examples of such vehicles are the NPP60 (Walk), NPV60 (Walk and Ride), and NPC60 (Center-ride) Walkies. Other manufacturers make similar vehicles.
Walkies, for example, consist essentially of a relatively small motorized chassis with a control that could be operated by standing on-board or walking besides the vehicle. A fork (generally two elongated members) extends from the motorized portion. The forks can be moved between a position on the ground or floor, to one raised slightly off the ground or floor to allow the load to be lifted high enough so that it can be moved. Normally, there are no high backstops or supports, so that only stacks of trays of limited height, can safely be transported or great care and perhaps several workers must by hand support the stacks as they move. Walkies would allow placement of the stacks of bread trays on the forks behind the motorized portion and thus allow the operator a clear view of the path ahead. However, it would also require the manual placement of trays on the forks, which is counter productive. Walkies are also generally built to support and lift substantial loads; on the order of 3,000-5,000 pounds. Therefore, they are built with sufficient strength and durability to handle those loads, which contributes to the cost and complexity of the machines. Also, their long forks make them somewhat difficult to maneuver in tight spaces. They are designed mainly for low loads of substantial size and/or weight.
The use of walkies might increase the speed and ease of moving trays, but they still require some manual handling and are limited in the height of stacks that can be moved. For optimal efficiency, the amount of vehicle time utilized for specific tasks is important and valuable. Minimization of vehicle use time is therefore another significant economic consideration.
Consider a still further different type of motorized vehicle recently developed specifically for the furniture industry. Schaeff, Incorporated has developed a different kind of materials transport vehicle that merges some of the advantages of the walkies and some of the advantages of the lift truck. It is available under product number FH 50 and is called a Stand-up Electric Materials Transport Vehicle. It has an motorized portion where the operator can stand up and drive, and face away from the load it is moving. It is considered a relatively light duty vehicle, having a load rating of around 500 pounds. It does not utilize any elevating components but rather relies on a tiltable rack with a platen at the bottom that can be used to place under a load. The rack is then tilted forward towards the vehicle to lift the platen off the ground and concurrently lift and tilt the load against an upright for transport. A relatively wide (but less than the width of the motorized portion) platen is used to slide under and then lift materials. A relatively tall upright and load backrest combination is pivotally attached to the motorized portion. The upright therefore can be moved between generally vertical, where the platen is essentially on the floor, to a tilted forward (towards the vehicle) position (approximately 20.degree.), which raises the platen from the floor to allow movement of the vehicle and load. It also tilts the load back to the upright for stability and support.
The FH 50 was developed for a specific application, the movement of furniture. Most times furniture is shipped in boxes to protect it, and is not very heavy, but the size of furniture such as couches, davenports, dining tables, chairs, etc. makes such boxes cumbersome to handle. Therefore, the FH 50 can be made more economically than a lift truck, and even a walkie, because it can be built for loads of limited, relatively light weight and does not require elevating components. For example, the FH 50 has a 500 pound capacity, whereas the Model E3 lift truck has a 3000 pound capacity. This effects size, strength, materials, and many other factors in the design of the vehicle, all having a relationship to cost. The FH 50 also has a short wheel base, and the length of extension of the platen is relatively short so that the device can be easily maneuvered in small, confined spaces. One example would be the inside of a semi-trailer truck. It has a very short turning radius and its small wheel base allows it to be able to maneuver the relatively tall loads within tight areas.
Although the FH 50 has advantages in handling such things as furniture, it could not be optimally used for baked goods tray stacks. Its platen is narrower than the motorized portion (about 32 inches), so it cannot realistically handle more than one stack of the about 25 inch wide trays. Its upright is around 83 inches tall, but this is short of the height of semi-trailers (around 100 or more inches) so its support of stacks of bread trays to that height is limited.
Therefore, although the FH 50 is available for other uses, it would not solve the needs in this area to the extent needed or desired. Therefore, although a device such as the FH 50 would have advantages over such things as fork lifts, walkies, and tow tractors, it would not be an efficient utilization of the motorized vehicle for the task of moving large numbers of stacks of bread trays, or the like.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method of handling multiple baked goods trays which improve upon the state of the art.
Other objects of the invention are:
1. To allow efficient and economical handling of an increased number of trays per load.
2. To allow stacks of trays of substantial heights to be handled.
3. To allow one or two stacks of trays to be handled at one time.
4. To allow handling of such a quantity of trays but at the same time have good maneuverability in tight spaces, such as loading docks and semi-trailers.
5. To reduce the amount of manual handling and labor time in handling trays of substantial quantities.
6. To improve the stability of stacks of trays when moving the same.
7. To minimize the amount of personnel needed to handle the trays.
8. To automate as much as possible the handling of trays.
9. To reduce bodily injuries to workers.
10. To reduce workman's compensation claims associated with bodily injuries.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become more apparent with reference to the specification and claims as follows.